Backgrounder: Major developments on Korean Peninsula in 2018

On September 14, RoK and the DPRK opened a joint liaison office for round-the-clock communication between the two sides. On September 5, Moon’s special envoys met with Kim on a visit to Pyongyang. On August 24, US President Donald Trump tweeted that he had asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to cancel an upcoming trip to the DPRK, citing a lack of progress in the Peninsula denuclearization. On August 19, US National Security Advisor John Bolton said Pompeo would visit the DPRK for a fourth time since he assumed the current office. On August 13, RoK and the DPRK agreed after high-level talks at the border village of Panmunjom to hold a third Inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang in September. On July 7, Pompeo visited Pyongyang for high-level talks with DPRK officials. Pompeo later said in Tokyo that sanctions against the DPRK would remain in place until the DPRK achieves a “final, fully-verified denuclearization.” The DPRK side said the US “gangster-like” attitude when demanding denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula was regrettable. On June 22, RoK and the DPRK launched Red Cross talks to discuss humanitarian issues, including reunion of Korean families separated across the inter-Korean border. On June 12, Kim and Trump met in Singapore for a summit, the first between incumbent leaders of both countries since the truce of the 1950-53 Korean War. On June 1, senior DPRK official Kim Yong Chol traveled to Washington and delivered a letter to Trump from Kim. Trump announced that the Singapore summit on… [Read full story]